| weaken or destroy in spirit or body; "His resistance was broken"; "a man broken by the terrible experience of near-death"
|
| diminish or discontinue abruptly; "The patient''s fever broke last night"
|
| fracture a bone of; "I broke my foot while playing hockey"
Synonyms: fracture,
|
| fall sharply; "stock prices broke"
|
| make submissive, obedient, or useful; "The horse was tough to break"; "I broke in the new intern"
Synonyms: break in,
|
| be broken in; "If the new teacher won''t break, we''ll add some stress"
|
| crack; of the male voice in puberty; "his voice is breaking--he should no longer sing in the choir"
|
| render inoperable or ineffective; "You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart!"
|
| become separated into pieces or fragments; "The figurine broke"; "The freshly baked loaf fell apart"
Synonyms: separate, split up, fall apart, come apart,
|
| destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments; "He broke the glass plate"; "She broke the match"
|
| become fractured; break or crack on the surface only; "The glass cracked when it was heated"
Synonyms: crack, check,
|
| happen; "Report the news as it develops"; "These political movements recrudesce from time to time"
Synonyms: recrudesce, develop,
|
| prevent completion; "stop the project"; "break off the negotiations"
Synonyms: break off, discontinue, stop,
|
| terminate; "She interrupted her pregnancy"; "break a lucky streak"; "break the cycle of poverty"
Synonyms: interrupt,
|
| lessen in force or effect; "soften a shock"; "break a fall"
Synonyms: dampen, damp, soften, weaken,
|
| stop operating or functioning; "The engine finally went"; "The car died on the road"; "The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke"; "The engine failed on the way to town"; "her eyesight went after the accident"
Synonyms: fail, go bad, give way, die, give out, conk out, go, break down,
|
| change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another; "Her voice broke to a whisper when she started to talk about her children"
|
| come into being; "light broke over the horizon"; "Voices broke in the air"
|
| find the solution or key to; "break the code"
|
| find a flaw in; "break an alibi"; "break down a proof"
|
| undergo breaking; "The simple vowels broke in many Germanic languages"
|
| interrupt the flow of current in; "break a circuit"
|
| cease an action temporarily; "We pause for station identification"; "let''s break for lunch"
Synonyms: pause, intermit,
|
| make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret; "The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold"; "The actress won''t reveal how old she is"; "bring out the truth"; "he broke the news to her"; "unwrap the evidence in the murder case"
Synonyms: unwrap, disclose, let on, bring out, reveal, discover, expose, divulge, give away, let out,
|
| be released or become known; of news; "News of her death broke in the morning"
Synonyms: get out, get around,
|
| surpass in excellence; "She bettered her own record"; "break a record"
Synonyms: better,
|
| pierce or penetrate; "The blade broke her skin"
|
| become punctured or penetrated; "The skin broke"
|
| break a piece from a whole; "break a branch from a tree"
Synonyms: break off, snap off,
|
| go to pieces; "The lawn mower finally broke"; "The gears wore out"; "The old chair finally fell apart completely"
Synonyms: wear, wear out, bust, fall apart,
|
| ruin completely; "He busted my radio!"
Synonyms: bust,
|
| separate from a clinch, in boxing; "The referee broke the boxers"
|
| make the opening shot that scatters the balls
|
| destroy the completeness of a set of related items; "The book dealer would not break the set"
Synonyms: break up,
|
| exchange for smaller units of money; "I had to break a $100 bill just to buy the candy"
|
| force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up; "break into tears"; "erupt in anger"
Synonyms: burst, erupt,
|
| do a break dance; "Kids were break-dancing at the street corner"
Synonyms: break dance, break-dance,
|
| curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves; "The surf broke"
|
| break down, literally or metaphorically; "The wall collapsed"; "The business collapsed"; "The dam broke"; "The roof collapsed"; "The wall gave in"; "The roof finally gave under the weight of the ice"
Synonyms: collapse, fall in, cave in, give, give way, founder,
|
| emerge from the surface of a body of water; "The whales broke"
|
| scatter or part; "The clouds broke after the heavy downpour"
|
| make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one''s own by quitting or fleeing; "The ranks broke"
|
| move away or escape suddenly; "The horses broke from the stable"; "Three inmates broke jail"; "Nobody can break out--this prison is high security"
Synonyms: break out, break away,
|
| change directions suddenly
|
| reduce to bankruptcy; "My daughter''s fancy wedding is going to break me!"; "The slump in the financial markets smashed him"
Synonyms: bankrupt, ruin, smash,
|
| assign to a lower position; reduce in rank; "She was demoted because she always speaks up"; "He was broken down to Sergeant"
Synonyms: demote, bump, relegate, kick downstairs,
|
| discontinue an association or relation; go different ways; "The business partners broke over a tax question"; "The couple separated after 25 years of marriage"; "My friend and I split up"
Synonyms: separate, part, split up, split, break up,
|
| invalidate by judicial action; "The will was broken"
|
| interrupt a continued activity; "She had broken with the traditional patterns"
Synonyms: break away,
|
| cause the failure or ruin of; "His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage"; "This play will either make or break the playwright"
|
| act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises; "offend all laws of humanity"; "violate the basic laws or human civilization"; "break a law"; "break a promise"
Synonyms: transgress, offend, infract, violate, go against, breach,
|
| enter someone''s (virtual or real) property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act; "Someone broke in while I was on vacation"; "They broke into my car and stole my radio!"; "who broke into my account last night?"
Synonyms: break in,
|
| happen or take place; "Things have been breaking pretty well for us in the past few months"
|
| come forth or begin from a state of latency; "The first winter storm broke over New York"
|
| fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns; "This sentence violates the rules of syntax"
Synonyms: violate, go against,
|
| give up; "break cigarette smoking"
|
| cause to give up a habit; "She finally broke herself of smoking cigarettes"
|
| vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity; "The flat plain was broken by tall mesas"
|
| come to an end; "The heat wave finally broke yesterday"
|
Mobile